--- title: Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u», a lesson of the french course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: French has some sounds English does not have, and learning them is like learning new moves in a game: strange at firs --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/) / Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the… # Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u Lesson 2 of the french course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/0/) — French has some sounds English does not have, and learning them is like learning new moves in a game: strange at first, then easy. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/1/) — Nasal vowels send the air up through your nose: hold your nose lightly, say bon, and if you feel a buzz, you have it; the n itself is not really said. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/2/) — The French r is made at the back of the throat, like a soft gargle, not with the tip of the tongue. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/3/) — A handy trick to practise it: say "k", then slide back into a soft, breathy scrape. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/4/) — The French u has no English twin: say "ee", freeze your tongue, then push your lips into a small circle, and you are saying tu. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/5/) — Some letter pairs have fixed sounds: ch says "sh", j says the "zh" in "measure", qu says "k" and th says "t", so le chat (the cat) is "luh SHA". - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/6/) — bon means good; on is a nasal vowel, so the air goes through the nose and the n is not said as in English "bonnet". - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/7/) — an, en, am and em usually make one nasal sound, "ahn": la France, maman (mum), un enfant (a child). - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/8/) — ain, in and ein make another nasal sound, a bit like "an" in "cat" sent up the nose: le pain (bread), le vin (wine), le lapin (rabbit), la main (hand). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/9/) — In French, pain means bread, not hurt. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/10/) — The French r is made at the back of the mouth, like a soft gargle: rouge (red) sounds like "ROOZH". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/11/) — tu means you (to a friend) and uses the French u; tout means all and sounds like English "too". - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/12/) — ille usually says "ee-y": la fille (the girl or daughter) is "la FEE-y" and la famille is "la fa-MEE-y"; ville (town) and mille (thousand) are odd ones that keep the l sound: "VEEL", "MEEL". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/13/) — ch in French says "sh": le chat (cat) is "luh SHA", le chocolat is "luh sho-ko-LA" and le chien (dog) is "luh SHYAN". - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/14/) — The French j is soft, like the middle of "measure": je (I) is "zhuh", jaune (yellow) is "ZHOHN". - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/15/) — qu almost always says "k" in French: quatre (four) is "KATR", qui (who) is "KEE". - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/16/) — French has no English th sound; th is just t: le thé (tea) is "luh TAY" and le théâtre is "luh tay-ATR". - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/17/) — deux (2) sounds like "duh" with round lips, while douze (12) sounds like "DOOZ". - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/18/) — Slang here: "tamping" (Wales) means very cross; "bare" (London) means lots of; "yeah nah" (Australia) means no; "yinz" (Pittsburgh) means you all; "howay" (North East England) means come on; "proper job" (West Country) means great; "chur" (New Zealand) means thanks or cool; "eh up" (Yorkshire) is a way of saying hey. - ← previous: [Silent letters: why French doesn't say everything it writes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/1-silent-letters-why-french-doesnt-say-everything-it-writes/) - next →: [Accents: é, è, ê, ç and friends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/3-accents-e-e-e-c-and-friends/) - ↑ back to [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/)